A Dissertation on the study of the impact caused by Social Media Marketing on

youths ‘Buying behavior and their Purchase decision-making patterns.

MASTERS OF COMMERCE
SRM University, Sikkim

Batch: 2020-2022

Submitted By

Saurab Gurung

Reg. no. 20MC204001

Under the Guidance of

Dr. Shubhadeep Chakraborty

AUGUST/2022
SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND COMMERCE

SRM UNIVERSITY, SIKKIM

5TH MILE, TADONG,

GANGTOK, SIKKIM-737102
Acknowledgement
First of all, I would like to acknowledgement my indebtedness and submit my appreciation towards my
supervisor Dr. Shubhadeep Chakraborty for providing me the opportunity to prepare this dissertation.
His guidance and advice assisted me throughout all the stages of the dissertation process. I would also
like to place my warmest gratitude towards our class coordinator Dr. Haolenlal Gangte for letting me
defend my dissertation project successfully and for you humble suggestions as well as guidance thanks to
you.

Moreover, I would also like to express my gratitude towards all of my class mates , friends and family
for showing me their continuous support and understanding when undertaking my dissertation and at
times when I was writing my thesis paper. Your presence and generosity towards me was what sustained
me to come this far. I have no idea about where I’ll be in future but I believe that with people like you
all I can bear all the difficulties in my life with a smile on my face. I feel very grateful to be a part of this
wonderful experience in my life as a student.

Saurab Gurung

(iii)
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Chapter 1- Introduction 1-5
An overview of Social Media Marketing 1-4
Statement of Problem 4
Objectives of the study 4
 1.4.Conceptual framework 4-5

2. Chapter 2- Review Of Literature 6-11

2.1.Literature review 6-11
2.2.Research Gap 11

3. Chapter 3 -Research Methodology 12

3.1.Introduction 12
3.2.Research design 12
3.3.Sampling methods and sample size 12
3.4.Tools and techniques 12

4. Chapter 4-Data interpretations 13-17

4.1. Introduction 13
4.2. Data Visualization 13-16
4.3. Data Analysis 16-17

5. Chapter 5-Findings and discussions 18-19

5.1.Findings 18-19
5.2.Suggestions 19
5.3.Limitations of the study 19

6. Chapter 6 : Conclusions 20
References 21-22
Appendix 23-28
(iv)
 Chapter 1
Introduction

An overview
Social media also known as Social Networking Sites is an internet-based form of communication that
provides its users a platform to have both formal and informal communications between two persons,
groups, and organizations to share information as well as create web content for personal or business
purposes. Over the past few decades, social media has been widely used by people across the world in
order to communicate and interact with their friends, family, and various communities virtually from a
distant place. Social media affect the way people interact with one another virtually as it creates new
modes for collaboration and discussions amongst two or more individuals in concern to their personal
matters, business proposals or organizational meetings, and many more. All the contents posted on social
media by an individual, group, or organization are persistent as it remains within their official site until
and unless it is removed by individuals at their own will or some legal authorities as a preventive measure.
Over the past few decades along with the advancement of social media marketing the business
organization has succeeded in upgrading the effectiveness of its operations into a new form easing the
process of conducting the business activities like promotion, advertisement, fixation of price, selling of
goods and services as well as delivering it the consumers efficiently and effectively.
According to ‘Marketo’, Social Media Marketing has been defined as the production, consumption, and
exchange of information through online social interactions and platforms.
Social Media is an interactive technology that facilitates the creation and communication of information,
ideas, interests and other forms of expression through virtual networks. People generally use social media
in order to communicate and interact with friends, family and communities at large. Through social media
platforms every user can obtain the following benefits:
1. Build personal or organizational relationships.
2. Share the experience and expertise of individuals to the world.
3. Educate friends, family and the society at large.
4. Connect and interact with friends and family at any time over the internet.
Marketing is a process through which a company promotes the buying or selling of a product
or service. Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers and
other business organizations.
Social Media Marketing also known as digital or e-marketing is the platform through which
individuals can create social networks and share information widely to a targeted audience in
order to build a company’s brand, improve overall performance and increase sales and
eventually profits of a business organization
From a business perspective, the companies engaged in conducting their activities through social
networking sites realized that they had the advantage to keep in touch with their potential clients through
social media marketing because of which social media marketing was born.
The concept of social media marketing is perceived as a modern contemporary style of marketing as it
lays more emphasis on creating new horizons for the brands to promote their offerings (goods and
services), advertise them, and then sell it at fixed price rates to the target consumer at different
geographical locations at the same time via Social Networking Sites. Business organizations are now
able to interact with their target consumers from any place at any time in order to spread the features of
a product, the benefits it provides to facilitate the buying and selling of commodities as well as
transmitting the funds virtually from the consumers to the suppliers. Advertising the products and
services of recognized brands through social media platforms have been considered as one of the most
prominent marketing strategies to this date as it provides various benefit to both the buyers and sellers in
numerous ways. As eligible marketers, they get the right to advertise and sell products to the targeted
consumers at a specific fixed price rate in a targeted geographical location. Whereas, the consumers get
the right to enjoy the benefit of viewing the various number of similar goods and services with one single
click at different online stores and order the products and/ or services that suit their choice, lifestyle, and
economic background. A rational consumer will spend his/her money only on those commodities that
are expected to meet their satisfaction level on its consumption immediately or over time.

History of Social media

Social networking started its operations way before the internet was even introduced to the world. Ward
Christensen and Randy Sues developed the computerized bulletin board system (CBBS), a system
through which business organizations can disseminate information and make announcements about their
essential meetings and reports to their employees a computerized program (1979). The primary reason
behind creating CBBS was to ease the process of disseminating information to numerous recipients
without the modes such as telephone calls, and/or memos. A large number of employees from certain
companies began using CBBS as a communication tool for more than just sending or receiving
announcements (Guna 2009).The first-ever Social Networking Site (SNS) developed and introduced to
the world was Six degrees in the year 1997 which provided its users with the feature of creating profiles,
post content, and communicating and interacting with their friends and family through the internet
network. Since six degrees was unable to sustain the required number of users for surviving the
networking market, it eventually shut down as a failure. After a span of 5 years, in 2002 Friendster.com
was introduced to the world as a new social networking platform attributed with some additional features
of adding photos and videos, posting messages, creating blogs, post reviews of music, movies, books,
and TV as well as creating an avatar which was earlier not provided by Friendster. Since then a number
of various social platforms such as Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn,
WhatsApp, and many more have been developed with the main aim to connect people virtually across
the world.
Current Scenario
Facebook has been one of the most visited social media sites since its launch in the year 2004 having
2.85 billion active users worldwide, followed by YouTube with 2.2 billion, WhatsApp, Instagram,
Facebook Messenger, and We Chat all having a billion users each.
Fig 1.1.2 : Worldwide users of Social media platforms as per the Datareportal

300 Data representation of social media users in 2022

Reddit 430
436
Pinterest 444
550
Snapchat 557
573
QQ 574
600
FB Messenger 988
1000
We Chat 1263
1478
Whatsapp 2000
2562
Facebook 2910
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500

As per the report provided by Datareportal in January 2022, the growth of social media rapidly continues to
increase at a high rate. Now a day’s approximately 58.4% of the population around the world uses social media.
1. Around 4.62 billion individuals across the world now uses social media on a daily basis.
2. Around 424 million of new users have joined social media within the last 12 months.
3. On an average, an individual spends around 2 hours and 27 minutes on social media
platforms per day.
In the modern world, social media platforms are not only specifically used for chitchatting with their
friends, families, and various communities at large. Now a day’s people have started using social media
as a tool to promote business or create awareness about their brands.
 Statement of Problem
The problem statement for the dissertation identifies the growing patterns of youths’ impulsive and ego
buying from online shopping platforms. It correlates (affection of one variable depends upon another)
with the growing concern over ethical media marketing as well as their ability to influence consumer
perception in a practical manner. Some of the key problems arising in social media marketing are that
there exists the threat of privacy breaches and personal security issues such as phishing and cyber-attacks
on both the organizational and consumers’ end. Such threats may result in leakage or mis-utilizations of
entities’ personal identities like their name, contact number, address, bank details, pictures, videos,
achievements, and many more.
Objectives of the study
The primary objectives of this dissertation are as follows:
1. Identifying and analyzing how social media marketing affects the buying behavior of youth.
2. Determining whether the impulsive buying behavior influences the purchase decision making of the
youths in Gangtok.
Conceptual Framework
Under this study, an attempt is made to establish a relationship between social media marketing and its
impact on the buying behavior of the youths’ residing in Gangtok. This study also aims to highlight how
and in what ways social media marketing can affect the purchase decision making patterns of the youths.
The key variables for this dissertation are as follows:
a. Independent variable: Social Media Marketing.
b. Dependent variable: youths’ impulsive buying behavior and purchase decision-making pattern
of youths.

Fig 1.4: Conceptual Framework of Social Media Marketing

Youths Consumers Buying

Behavior

Main Factors : SMM Advantages

Quality of product , Convenience,
discount prices, Time-saving,
Advertisements, Security.
Sales offer.
According to a definition given by ‘Marketo’, marketers could use social media as an effective marketing
platform with the motive to conduct their business activities effectively wherein they may advertise,
promote and sell goods and services to customers virtually at different geographical locations. This
theory implies that both the consumers and producers can enjoy the benefits of social media marketing
by using the social media platforms via electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, tablets, etc.
The purpose of this study became more specific after conceptually dividing social media marketing into
SMM advantages and its features.
 Chapter 2
Literature Review
Intr
odu
ctio
n
Creswell (2021), a literature review is a piece of academic writing demonstrating knowledge and
understanding of the academic literature on a specific topic placed in context. This review of the literature
specifies how the internet, social media networks, and marketing are interconnected as well as how these
three elements works in correlation with one another over network. It also represents the ways through
social media marketing impacts the buying behavior of youth consumers.
Review of the literature
Ebrahim (2019) through its journal illustrate the idea that the social media platform is an integrated
strategy used by marketers in the modern world as it provides a new mechanism and communications
tools through which companies can interact and engage with the actual and potential customers. The
primary objective of this study is to explore the impact of social media marketing activities (SMM) on
brand loyalty via brand trust and brand equity. During the study, an aggregate of 287 samples was
obtained from users of social media via an online survey in Egypt. Thus, the results revealed that SMM
activities included only three main dimensions under its portfolio namely: trendiness, customizations,
and word-of-mouth. As such, these attributes of social media marketing directly influenced brand loyalty
and indirectly influenced the brand equity of a business organization performing its daily economic
activities virtually.
Maulana (2019) this article states, the use of the Internet in Indonesia is a potential for business people
because it is genuine to assume that the increase in internet users will also encourage the growth of e-
commerce in India. The primary purpose of this article is to identify the level of influence of continuous
social media marketing and the prices offered at discounts through Instagram on the purchase decision
of the consumers. The study used the descriptive research method and explanatory survey for collecting
and interpreting the data from the respondents. Over 100 samples were collected from different
respondents using the purposive sampling technique and the data used for finalizing the report is interval
data. The findings of this article reveal that Viral marketing (a style of promotion that relies on an
audience to generate the message of a product or service) and discount prices simultaneously affect the
purchase decision of consumers in India.
Ridwanul (2019) states that significant growth of social media in the daily interaction between two
or more individuals. Various brands operating in Bangladesh are continuously trying to engage teens
through social media platforms as they are considered one of the essential personnel/s contributing
towards its sites. A sample of over 381 respondents was collected from College and University
students across Dhaka city. The findings of the study suggest investment guidelines who are willing
to promote their brands through social networking platforms.
Vithayathil (2020), attempt to establish the association between the usage of social media by
individuals at home and their shopping preferences towards a specific brand or brands. The primary
focus of this article is to study popular retail firms including brick-and-mortar firms such as
Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, Amazon and Best Buy. A sample of 314 subjects was collected during
the study, especially from the working students of a public university in the state of Washington.
The findings of the study reveal that when the use of social media is extended to working
environments there have been unexpected changes in certain associations between social media use
at home and shopping preferences of the users.
Narcum (2021), states that the researchers examined the effects of covid on social media marketing in
India. The exploratory study was used to survey Indian Consumers’ social media behaviors. Over 313
samples were collected from Indian consumers in order to compare the social media behaviors for
consumer decision-making that have changed since the pandemic started. The findings of the study reveal
that there was increased usage of social media as a tool for consumer decision-making.
Alatawy (2021), states that globalization and rapid advancements in communication technologies have
changed the way people interact with one another throughout the world because of which various
business industries have turned to social media marketing (SMM) in order to increase consumer
interactions, brand value, recognition, word of mouth, and sales. The primary objective of this study is
how SMM influences customer purchase decisions in the Saudi Arabian Fashion sector. A sample of
over 106 participants was collected through an online survey. The findings of the study reveal that there
has been an increase in the usage of social media, and clients now prefer to shop more through online
shopping stores.
Ibrahim (2021), investigates the robustness of the relationship between social media marketing activities
(SMMA) and brand loyalty based on six contextual factors classified into three categories:
methodological, economic, and social variables. A quantitative meta-analysis was conducted to test
hypotheses and approximately 11 effect sizes from the article published between 2010- 2019. A sample
size of over 3,535 was obtained through quantitative meta-analysis. The findings of the study indicate
that there existed a positive correlation between SMMA and BL.
Rodrigues (2022), the study states that the general use and acceptance of the internet made social
networks an indispensable means of communication between organizations and their target. Both
individuals and companies create fan pages on social media platforms in order to interact with different
receivers and develop personal and business opportunities. This study reviewed marketing literature on
social media, focusing on Facebook, customer satisfaction, and engagement. A sample of over 272
participants was collected from participants in Portugal. As a research model, SPSS statistics version
24.0 and structural equation model – AMOS 24.0 was used for data analysis. The findings of the study
revealed that the majority of initiatives on social media marketing contributed in a positive way to
supporters’ satisfaction and engagement, especially on Facebook.
Baber’s (2002), the study investigates the customers of major brands of smartphones in India. The
primary objective of this study was to investigate the challenges faced by marketers in building stronger
brands on social media. A sample of over 318 consumers was collected from individuals who visited tan
pages of the selected brands of smartphones. The findings of the study reveal that brand equity partially
mediates the effect of SMMEs on customer response. On the other hand, SMMEs did not succeed in
converting brand trust into customer response.
AI_Fassed (2022), attempts to determine the impact of social media marketing on building brand loyalty
through customer engagement of customers in Jordan. The primary aim of this study was to discover
whether or not the engagement of customers mediates the impact of social media marketing on brand
loyalty in Jordan. The population of this study consists of college students in Jordan and over 214 samples
were collected from respondents. The findings of the study revealed that social media marketing
dimensions affect the brand loyalty of a company. As well as there seemed to be an impact of social
media marketing on building brand loyalty through the engagement of customers in Jordan.
Jing Ge (2020), aims to study the visual strategies used by Tourism Marketing and their importance
based on social media. As well the research examines the structure of social media-based visual strategies
implemented by tourism marketers. Over 250 Weibo posts were collected and analyzed initiated by 5
Chinese provincial destination marketing organizations. The findings of the study represent the diversity
of social media-afforded visual modalities, different types of visual content and marketing goals as well
as rhetorical relations between visuals and their accompanying texts.
Yunus (2022), focuses on how banks often apply marketing communication strategies through social
media. The study also investigated the effect of social media marketing efforts, brand awareness, and
brand image on Millennial Customer Response. This study employed a qualitative method through the
distribution of questionnaires among 400 respondents. The findings of the study revealed that Millennial
Customer Responses were influenced by Social media marketing efforts, brand awareness, and brand
image. To conclude with the social media marketing efforts, brand image and brand awareness of
conventional banks in Indonesia highly affect the level of millennial customer responses.
AI-Emran (2022), highlights the relative scarcity of research on organizational-level factors that affect
the use of social media applications by non-profit organizations. The primary aim of this study is to
bridge the gap in research by analyzing the factors that determine social media use which leads to
increasing the effectiveness of NPOs. Over 325 NPOs were collected through questionnaires among the
public relations in Jordan and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The
findings of the study reveal that using social media has a significant positive effect on awareness and
community engagement, while no significant impact is reported in relation to fundraising.
AI_Fassed (2022), attempts to determine the impact of social media marketing on building brand loyalty
through customer engagement of customers in Jordan. The primary aim of this study was to discover
whether or not the engagement of customers mediates the impact of social media marketing on brand
loyalty in Jordan. The population of this study consists of college students in Jordan and over 214 samples
were collected from respondents. The findings of the study revealed that social media marketing
dimensions affect the brand loyalty of a company. As well as there seemed to be an impact of social
media marketing on building brand loyalty through the engagement of customers in Jordan.
Jing Ge (2020), aims to study the visual strategies used by Tourism Marketing and their importance based
on social media. As well the research examines the structure of social media-based visual strategies
implemented by tourism marketers. Over 250 Weibo posts were collected and analyzed initiated by 5
Chinese provincial destination marketing organizations.
The findings of the study represent the diversity of social media-afforded visual modalities, different
types of visual content and marketing goals as well as rhetorical relations between visuals and their
accompanying texts.
Yunus (2022), focuses on how banks often apply marketing communication strategies through social
media. The study also investigated the effect of social media marketing efforts, brand awareness, and
brand image on Millennial Customer Response. This study employed a qualitative method through the
distribution of questionnaires among 400 respondents. The findings of the study revealed that Millennial
Customer Responses were influenced by Social media marketing efforts, brand awareness, and brand
image. To conclude with the social media marketing efforts, brand image and brand awareness of
conventional banks in Indonesia highly affect the level of millennial customer responses.
AI-Emran (2022), highlights the relative scarcity of research on organizational-level factors that affect
the use of social media applications by non-profit organizations. The primary aim of this study is to
bridge the gap in research by analyzing the factors that determine social media use which leads to
increasing the effectiveness of NPOs. Over 325 NPOs were collected through questionnaires among the
public relations in Jordan and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The
findings of the study reveal that using social media has a significant positive effect on awareness and
community engagement, while no significant impact is reported in relation to fundraising.
Jahid (2021), examines the role of social media marketing on the performance of micro, small and
medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) during the pandemic period of Covid-19. This study has utilized a
quantitative approach and the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) as an analytical tool based on Partial
Least Square. A total number of 254 MSMEs was collected through online questionnaires. The findings
of the study reveal that the use of social media marketing is influenced by compatibility, perceived
usefulness, and perceived ease of use.
Kosikova (2020), aims to find out the impact of social media on consumer behavior during a pandemic
and the influence of social media on the preference of specific e-shops during the first wave of the
COVID-19 pandemic. The study used to Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used in order to
determine a statistically significant relationship between the variables and the Mann-Whitney U test and
the Kruskal-Wallis H test in order to determine the significance of the relationship between the
respondents in terms of demographic characteristics such as residence, age, and gender. The findings of
the study reveal that the existed a relatively weak relationship between social media users and the
purchase in the e-shop promoted on social media.
Soris (2022), a study on the attitudes of youngsters towards social media marketing in Thoothukudi,
states that the company’s marketing operations have been highly impacted at a new level by recent
advancements due to the advancement of internet-based social media technology. This study uses a
descriptive research approach and a closed-ended questionnaire in order to obtain primary data from
Thoothukudi social media users. The findings of this study reveal that the majority of the respondents
between the age group of 19-30 find advertisements more fascinating which has increased the value of
the products and services.
Sami (2020), represents that the platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are pushing marketing
companies’ new direction using social media marketing. It states how social media influences the
consumer’s purchase decisions in Pakistan. The study used a quantitative method based on primary data
where in among 250 questionnaires were distributed to the consumers out of which only 190 were utilized
for the data interpretation process. The results reveal that trust and social media influence significantly
affect consumers’ purchase intentions.
Hendrayati (2022), aims to analyze the relationship between social media marketing and brand image,
social media marketing relationship and purchase intention, brand image relationship, and purchase
intention. It also establishes the relationship between SMM and purchase intention through Brand Image.
This study used the quantitative approach and PLS_SEM SmartPLS software as a data processing tool.
Over 234 sample was collected through respondents of Millenial Smartphone Consumers in Banten
Indonesia through online surveys. Based on the results of hypothesis testing the findings reveal that there
was a positive and significant relationship between Brand Image and Purchase decisions of the
consumers in Indonesia.
2.1. Research Gap
A research gap is a problem that has not been identified and answered by any of the past studies conducted
till date. For my dissertation, the following research gaps have been identified:
1. There exists a lack of study conducted on the influence of social media marketing on the youths in
Gangtok.
2. The influence of Social media marketing on the youth’s buying behavior has not been studied post
covid.
 Chapter 3
Research Methodology

Introduction
According to Kombo, there exist two types of research approaches quantitative and qualitative where in
quantitative approach uses numeric data and the qualitative approach uses non-numeric data (2006). This
dissertation has been conducted by using the principles of mixed methods which includes both the
quantitative and qualitative approach.
Research Design
The research design for this dissertation include areas such as the location of the study, sampling and
sample size, as well as primary data. The emphasis of a research design is always more on the research
subject rather than why the research subject is studied (Babbie, 1990).
Sampling Method and Sample Size
The data for the dissertation have been obtained by using voluntary response sampling method
specifically through primary sources. Out of 150 tentative population, the sample of over 61 respondents
is collected from youth consumers residing in Gangtok, Sikkim. Primary data are the data, which are
collected afresh and for the first time and thus, happen to be original in character (Kothari 2004).
Tools and techniques
The research tools used in this dissertation consists of a computer, its software (Google scholar, Research
Gate, MS-word, MS-Excel), notebooks, PDFs, language, online dichotomous and check box
questionnaires, bar charts graphs, Two Sample T-test.
 Chapter 4
Data Interpretations

Introduction
The dissertation attempts to interpret both the quantitative and qualitative data which is subjective in
nature with the primary objective of framing a feasible decision about the study. Basically, the data for
this dissertation was obtained through online dichotomous questionnaires created through google forms.
Data Visualization
All of this graphs represents the frequency of commodities bought by youth respondents from online
stores due to being influenced by the Social Media Marketing.

Gadgets

1.48%

1.50%
1.00%
0.50%
0.00%
1
Gadgets 1.48%

Fig 4.2.1: The above graph depicts that Social Media Marketing influences approximately 1.48% youth
respondents to purchase Gadgets online in Gangtok.

Books

2.38%
3.00%
2.00%
1.00%
0.00%
1
BOOKS 2.38%

Fig 4.2.2: The above graph depicts that Social Media Marketing influences approximately 2.54% youth
respondents to purchase cloths online in Gangtok.
 Cloths

2.54%
3.00%
2.00%
1.00%

0.00%
1
Cloths 2.54%

Fig 4.2.3: The above graph depicts that Social Media Marketing influences approximately 2.54% of
youth respondents to purchase cloths online.

Advertisements

4.82%
6.00%

4.00%

2.00%

0.00%
1
Advertisements 4.82%

Fig 4.4.4: The above graph depicts that advertisements alters the purchase decision of the approximately
4.82% youth respondents in Gangtok.

Impulsive buying behavior

24.85%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
1
Impulsive buying
24.85%
behavior

Fig 4.4.5: This above depicts that advertisements through social media marketing have influenced
approximately 24.85% of youth respondents in Gangtok to be an impulsive buyer.
 Purchase decision making

27.47%
30.00%
20.00%

10.00%

0.00%
1
Purchase decision making 27.47%

Fig 4.4.6: The above graph depicts that the pop-up advertisements have altered the purchase decisions
of approximately 27.47% youth respondents in Gangtok.

Preference

3.80%
4.00%

2.00%

0.00%
1
preference 3.80%

Fig 4.4.7: The above graph depicts that approximately 3.80% of youth respondents prefer to buy
commodities online in Gangtok by being influenced due to Social Media Marketing.

Female buying behavior

150
100
111 119
50 55
0
Gadgets Books Cloths
Series1 55 111 119

Fig 4.4.8: The above graph depicts that all the female respondents residing in Gangtok tend to buy less
proportion of Books and Gadgets as compared to Cloths due to being influenced by Social Media
Marketing in a year. On an aggregate, they purchase 55 number of Gadgets, 111 number of books and
119 number of cloths.
 Males buying behavior

127 131
140
120 93
100
80
60
40
20
0
Gadgets Books Cloths
Series1 93 127 131

Fig 4.4.9: The above graph depicts that all the male respondents residing in Gangtok also tend to buy
less proportion of Books and Gadgets as compared to cloths due to being influenced by Social Media
Marketing in a year. On an aggregate, they purchase 93 number of Gadgets, 127 number of books and
131 number of cloths.

Data Analysis
H0: Impulsive buying behavior has no influence on the purchase decision of youths in Gangtok.
H1: Impulsive buying behavior influences the purchase decisions of youths in Gangtok.
T-test Statistics
X1: 45.78
X2: 40.79
Standard deviation (S1): 18.09
Standard deviation (S2): 18.31
Pooled Standard deviation (Sp): 0.49
Level of Significance = 0.05

Soln ÷

1st step: Pooled standard deviation

(𝑛1 −1)12 +(𝑛2−1 )𝑆22
Sp2=
( 1+𝑛2−2)
60.𝑠12+60.𝑠22
=
122
30 (𝑆12 + 𝑆22 )
=
61
2nd step: Two sample t-test.
𝑋1−𝑋2
t0 = 1 1
𝑆𝑝√ +
𝑛1 2

45.78−40.79
= 30 1 1
( 2+ 𝑠 2 ) 𝑋√ +
61 1 2 61 61

4.99
= 2
0.49 (𝑠12+𝑠2 2 )𝑋 √
61

4.99
=
0.49 𝑋 0.18 𝑋 ( 12 + 𝑆22)
4.99
=
0.882 (𝑆12 + 𝑆22)
56.57
=
( 12 + 𝑆22 )
56.57
=
(18.092+18.312)

= 0.085.
Since the value of t-test is less than the alpha value, we accept null hypothesis. Numerically, 0.085<0.05
.Thus, we can conclude that the Impulsive buying behavior has no significant influence on the purchase
decision making of the youths in Gangtok.
 Chapter 5
Findings and discussions

Findings
The findings of this dissertation reveal that:
 Out of 61 respondents, 35 respondents are male and the rest 26 respondents are female.
 Out of the total 61 respondents most of the youths that are influenced by the social media
marketing falls under the age group between 23-25 years.
 Male respondents tend to be more influenced to make an online purchase by being influenced due
to social media marketing.
 Out of the total 35 male respondents ;
i. 18 male respondents are triggered by discount prices to make an online purchase.
ii. 9 male respondents are triggered by sales offer.
iii. 8 male respondents are triggered by Quality products.
 Out of 26 female respondents;
i. 12 female respondents are triggered by discount prices to make an online purchase.
ii. 8 female respondents are triggered by sales offers.
iii. 6 female respondents are triggered by quality of products.
 Male respondents agree that SMM have highly influenced them to be an impulsive buyer as
compared to female respondents.
 Out of the total 61 respondents ;
i. As a result of being influenced due to social media marketing : 14 male respondents reveal
that they buy commodities online on a monthly basis, 12 male respondents reveal that
they buy commodities online twice a year, 9 male respondents reveal that they buy
commodities only once in a year.
ii. As a result of being influenced due to social media marketing : 23 female respondents
reveal that they buy commodities on a monthly basis,5 female respondents reveal that
they buy commodities twice a year,5 female respondents reveal that they buy commodities
once a year.
 Most of the male and female out of 61 respondents reveal that there was an increase in their
purchase decision making patterns during pandemic.
  The findings of the dissertation reveal that Impulsive buying behavior has no influence on
purchase decision making of the youths in Gangtok.
Suggestions
Based on the findings of this dissertation some suggestions are put forward to social media marketers in
order to enhance their level of service and offerings. An efficient SMM requires in depth knowledge of
its organization and a road map of how it can be used to effectively achieve the goals of the organization.
In order to effectively promote the goods and services of online stores in Gangtok, the marketer should
provide:
1) Accurate information about the goods and services to consumers on social media.
2) The retailers should deliver the exact quality products as displayed by them on the social media.
3) The social media sites should ensure that the links provided through them valid as it should not be a
spam.
Limitations of the study
There are certain limitations of this dissertation as follows;
1. This study is primarily conducted in the region of Gangtok and the data was obtained specifically
from the youth respondents residing within the target area, so it tends to exclude the participation
of the youths from other districts of the state.
 Chapter 6
Conclusion

In today’s world, social media has been an integral part of everyday life. The use of social media by
individuals and its implementation by various forms of organizations is increasing at a faster pace due to
rapid development and advancement in technology. . The youths across the world use social media
platform to satisfy their emotional and psychological desires. This study considers Social Media
Marketing as an independent variable and youth’s buying behavior as the dependent variable. Basically,
this study addresses the level of impact caused by social media marketing on the buying behavior of
youths in Gangtok. Unlike traditional advertising channels, social media platforms provides various new
opportunities as well as challenges for both marketers and consumers. it also implies that the purchase
decision-making of youths can be predicted with social media marketing.
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 Appendix

“This study is an attempt to investigate the impact of social media marketing on the buying behavior of
youths consumers in Gangtok.

1. Questionnaires
1) Age .
2) Gender:
a. Male.
b. Female.
c. Others.
3) Level of education :
a. B.com
b. M.com
c. BCA
d. B.Sc.
e. Others.
4) Did you know social media marketing is a communicational technology used by brands to
promote their goods and services on social media?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
5) If yes, then what do you like the most about social media marketing?
a. Price rates.
b. Pop-up Advertisements.
c. Quality of the parcels.
d. Varieties of options.
6) Which social media channels influence you the most to make an online- purchase via pop-up
advertisements?
a. Facebook.
b. Instagram.
c. YouTube.
d. LinkedIn.
7) Have you ever recommended a friend to use social media as a means to stay updated on the
commodities they like the most?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
8) Which factor of Social Media Marketing may have influenced you the most to make an online
purchase?
a. Advertisement pop-ups.
b. Discount prices.
c. Sales offers.
d. Varieties of options.
9) What are the benefits you have obtained by purchasing goods and/or services online by using
social media sites as a reference to brands?
a. Easy access to online stores.
b. Varieties of options.
c. Low price rates.
d. High-quality goods/services.
10) Does the brand value affect your purchase decision-making irrespective of the level of
advertisement placed on Social media?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
11) How often do you make an online purchase through pop-up advertisements displayed on social
media sites and by online clothing stores such as Myntra/Amazon/Nyykka/ Ajio?
a. Daily.
b. Weekly.
c. Monthly.
d. Others.
12) Do you think social media marketing has influenced you to be an impulsive buyer (unplanned
purchase)?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
13) What are the most bought items from any online stores as the influence of pop-up advertisements
displayed on social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram?
a. Books.
b. Clothes.
c. Accessories.
d. Gadgets.
14) How often do you order foods online from Mitho/Chito/food mart?
a. Daily.
b. Weekly.
c. Monthly.
d. Rarely.
15) How frequently do you purchase clothes from online shopping stores irrespective of
advertisements or offers given by any brand?
a. Once.
b. Twice.
c. Multiple times.
d. Others.
16) Which digital payment app do you prefer to use more while making an online payment for
acquiring commodities virtually?
a. Google-Pay.
b. PhonePe.
c. PayTm.
d. Others.
17) Do you prefer to make online payments via debit/ credit card?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
18) Was there any significant change in your buying behavior during the pandemic?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
19) If yes, then how did your purchase decision-making patterns change?
a. Increased.
b. Decreased.
c. Neutral.
20) Does the advertisement in paid partnership with celebrities affect your purchase decisions?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Neutral.
d. None.
21) Do you know that brands like Flip kart and Amazon offer employment opportunities to youths as
a means to earn while working from home?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
22) If yes, then have you ever applied for an interview to get enrolled in any one of the top performing
online shopping stores as its employee?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
23) Did you know that Meesho an Indian retail online store provides employment to interested
individuals for promoting its goods on social media platforms?
a. Yes.
b. No.
c. Maybe.
24) Up to what extent has impulsive buying behavior misbalanced the management of your funds?
a. Less than 25 %.
b. 25-50 %.
c. 50-75 %.
d. Above 75%.
25) If yes, then up to what extent SMM has influenced you to be an impulsive buyer?
a. Less than 25%.
b. 25-50%.
c. 50-75%.
 d. More than 75%.
26) How many times in a year have you decided to purchase books from online shopping stores
irrespective of advertisements or offers given by any brand?
a. 2.
b. 4.
c. 6.
d. 8.
e. 10.
27) Up to what extent has social media marketing affected your purchase decision-making patterns?
a. Less than 25 %.
b. 25-50 %.
c. 50-75%.
d. 75%-100 %
28) How many times in a year have you decided to purchase gadgets from online shopping stores
irrespective of advertisements or offers given by any brand?
a. 2.
b. 4.
c. 6.
d. 8
e. 10.
2. Geographical location of the study

This dissertation is conducted specifically on

certain areas within Gangtok, as it is one of the
most populated district in Sikkim where in
most of the necessary offices, schools, and
universities are situated. Hence, there is a
higher possibility of obtaining all the required
relevant data from these locations. The area of
the study include Daragoan, Tadong,
Ranipool, and 5th Mile.